TWOFER #24: Aasipelit Special!

1. Juhannussauna 2016

Programming and graphics by Arto4000. Music, sounds and cover art by Nutshell. Originally published for the NES by Aasipelit in 2016.

2. Juhannusolumppialaiset 2017

Programming and graphics by Arto4000. Music, sounds and cover art by Nutshell. Originally published for the NES by Aasipelit in 2017.

Commodore 64 versions written by Joonas Niinistö. Juhannussauna C64 published by SopuisaSopuli in 2020, and Juhannusolumppialaiset C64 published in 2021.

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INTRODUCTION

Happy Finnish Independence Day 2022, everybody! This is going to be a really short one, because this comparison was made first and foremost as a "wing it" kind of a video test for both versions of both games, and also featuring Aasipelit's third game, written in honour of Finland's 100th Anniversary of Independence five years ago. That game will not be mentioned in this text, but there's plenty of footage in the video below. So, without further ado, check out the video below, before you continue any further.

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JUHANNUSSAUNA

The above video demonstrates and explains most of what there is to say about the two versions of Juhannussauna, but in case you prefer to read the full comparison, here's how things are.

You play as Sauna-Ukko, and your mission in life is to reach true enlightenment by staying in the sauna for a long as you can take it. In fact, the game ends when you drop dead. The highest level you can reach is Saunamestari (the Sauna Master), but for you score hunters out there, there is a score counter to go along with the level indicator.

Screenshots from the NES version of Juhannussauna.

There isn't much of gameplay elements in Juhannussauna, since all you are able to do is throw water on the sauna stove, and when you feel yourself too close to burning to death, you can drink a bottle of beer from your six-pack to cool yourself down for a while. In the original NES version, the buttons are A for casting water on the stove and B for chugging down a beer. In the C64 version, pull the joystick right to cast water, and press fire to drink.

The only notable gameplay difference is, that in the C64 version, the water flies quicker, so it's faster to play, but the C64 version seems to have more strict requirements for becoming the Sauna Master. This inconvenience certainly makes the game more worth repeated playing, since the highest level can be reached just by staying alive in the sauna as long as you can, but getting a high score isn't quite as easy as that. Then again, you might not want to sweat too much with this game, since it is really nothing more than good coffee break fun.

Screenshots from the Commodore 64 version of Juhannussauna.

The NES version is more thoroughly designed, though, in all aspects. It's graphics and sounds are bordering on being epic, but only as a combined whole. Graphically, the NES Juhannussauna is comically cheap and understated, but the sounds and music are excellently made, which bring up the whole production to the level of classic Finnish shareware games from the 90's. The C64 version's graphics are a very good replication of the NES version's style, but in an unmistakably basic C64 form, yet the music and sound effects haven't been given a similar treatment. They are more in tune with the hilariously cheap style of the graphics, but the combined result feels less "epic" than the original NES version.

Because this game has more novelty value than real content and longevity potential, instead of a numeric score, I will just say that the NES version is the more recommendable version, but the C64 version is somewhat differently funny in its own style.

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JUHANNUSOLUMPPIALAISET

In case you are not a Finnish person, and were wondering about the odd style of spelling in the game title, you would be right to do so, because the correct spelling of the word "olympics" in Finnish is "olympialaiset". The way it is spelled here, "olumppialaiset" is more of a spoken style, usually pronounced in such a way by people who either haven't learned how to pronounce it properly; are too lazy to pronounce it properly (the letter 'y' is pronounced differently in Finnish, and feels very unnatural for a Finnish person to speak 'y' after a dark vowel like 'o'); or is considered a dialectical thing. Whatever the case, "olumppialaiset" feels more Finnish than the word's official form.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's boot up the game. Once the game has loaded, vastly different title screens appear in both versions. Pressing the designated starting button, you get to the character selection screen. The NES version can be played by up to 4 players simultaneously, provided the console is equipped with a multitap-like device, that allows attaching 4 gamepads. The C64 version can only handle three simultaneous players, but that's still more than the usual number of players in a C64 game. The player selection screen operates a bit differently: you scroll through your options with the D-pad and choose your character with Start on the NES, whereas the C64 version scrolls with the fire button and selects with Return on the keyboard. In the C64 version, the character selector feels like it has a bit of a delay in operating it.

Screenshots from the NES version of Juhannusolumppialaiset.

Both versions of the game have the same three events, which is a fairly good indicator that they're not too far off from each other, but there are some clear differences.

In event #1, which is officially mentioned in the English manual as "Beer run", you compete against the other players by trying to pick up the randomly appearing beer bottles in the alcohol shop, and bring them to your shopping bag at the top of the screen. The character Hänmies can carry two bottles at once - the others only have a single carrying slot. Sauna-Akka can run faster than anybody else in the game, and the other two characters have no special abilities. The C64 version differs by Sauna-Akka being even faster when not carrying a bottle, yet still being faster than the other with a bottle in her hand.

Event #2, "Beer rowing", is a traditional button tapping/joystick waggling event, which requires no other action. The NES version is played with the A and B buttons, and the C64 version makes you waggle the joystick left and right. The winner of the event is rewarded with 3 extra bottles of beer. None of the characters have any special abilities here. The C64 version of this level is much harder to beat, and about double the length of the NES original.

Screenshots from the Commodore 64 version of Juhannusolumppialaiset.

The final event is "Rowboat urination", which makes all the four characters urinate into the lake while standing in the boat, quite obviously drunk. You need to keep your character balanced by pushing the D-pad or joystick left or right, whenever your character is about to fall - just push into the opposite direction and you should be fine. You also need to keep an eye on the colour of your trickle, because when it turns red, you're in trouble. Fix this by drinking a bottle of beer, which is done by pulling the joystick down on the C64, and pushing the B button on the NES. The character named JKVT (Jani-Kalle Vanha-Tammi) has a special ability here, that his urine flow is notably slower, so his need for drinking beer is not as high as the other characters' need. The C64 version also gave this ability to the vaguely Spider-Man -looking character (Hämyri-Heikki).

Basically, what I said about Juhannussauna, can be almost 100% directly said about Juhannusolumppialaiset as well. The C64 version is not as polished as the NES original, even though it does have its own kind of novelty value. Unfortunately, because the C64 version is much more difficult, and a bit inconvenient for its controls, I wouldn't really recommend it. It is playable enough, though, you just may have to consider the C64 version as the hardcore edition, if anything.

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THE THIRD GAME + FINAL WORDS

What could be considered, at least currently, the Aasipelit trilogy of Finnishness, ends with a game that was developed and released for the 100th Anniversary of Finnish Independence in August 2017. The game is called PERKELE! - Suomi 100 vuotta, the primary word being such a Finnish profanity, that it's next to impossible to appropriately translate to any other language, but you can read something about it on a Wikipedia page dedicated to the word.

Screenshots from the 5th Anniversary digital edition of Perkele! Suomi 100 vuotta.

As can be seen in the video above, the third game is a collection of three smaller games. "Talvisota" is a target shooting game, which can be played with either a light gun or a pad; "Saimaannorpan kosto" is a side-scrolling shooter, which starts off as an avoid'em-up, in which you control an almost extinct Saimaa ringed seal called Pullervo; and "Nakkikioskitappelu" is a solid screen beat'em-up, which puts you fight random drunken idiots in front of hot dog stands and other local burger joints all around Finland. PERKELE! ramps up the quality of graphics and sounds, but the gameplay leaves something to be desired, as it's still a game that relies too much on its novelty value than actual gameplay mechanics. Not my favourite of the three Aasipelit releases, but it's an entertaining set of novelties, nonetheless.

The fact that the folks at Aasipelit were able to pull these off can only be applauded, though. Not that many Finnish game developers have even attempted to create new games for the NES, and the ones I have seen have been completely unremarkable. I suppose there are better tools these days, but you still need to have capable programmers and artists to get games to look and sound this good - or appropriately cheap, in the case of the two Juhannus games. With all due respect, I consider these three games equal to some of the best Finnish shareware games for the MS-DOS from the middle of 1990's to early 2000's, which is probably my favourite part of Finnish game developing history exactly because of the often inappropriate humour and quirkiness of game design. After these, though, I would like to see a more serious Finnish game for the NES, perhaps similarly ambitious to Death Rally or Stardust. While waiting for those, you can find these games for the NES from Aasipelit's own itch.io page, and the C64 versions from SopuisaSopuli's page.

That's it for now, I hope that served the purpose! In case I'm too busy to get anything more done by Christmas, then I wish you the happiest of Christmases! But there is something in the works, which I'm hoping to get posted at least by New Year's Eve, so let's hope that schedule keeps. Until then, whenever that is, keep on retrogaming!